Our primary goals are to determine the replication strategy of the murine hepatoencephalitis group of coronaviruses, to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the panencephalitis produced by these viruses, and to develop a reproducible model of viral-induced demyelination in the central nervous system of the mouse. We are using wild type virus and temperature-sensitive mutants of JHMV to achieve our goals. We are also investigating the interaction between wild type virus and temperature-sensitive mutants of mengovirus and simian virus 40 with the wild type virus and temperature-sensitive mutants of JHMV both in vitro and in vivo. Murine coronavirus proteins and RNA are being analyzed by radioimmuneprecipitation, polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis, and ultracentrifugation. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Robb, J.A. (1977) Virus-cell interactions: A classification for virus-caused human disease. Prog. Med. Virol. Vol. 23, in press. Robb, J.A. (1977) Virus-cell interactions. in: Human Disease Caused by Viruses, H. Rothschild, ed., Oxford University Press, in press.